The young man in the center of this 1969 family picture was James Paul Boring born November 6, 1953, died December 22, 2025. The picture spoke to the love that surrounded James from his two older sisters, two younger brothers, father and mother – a love that followed him throughout his journey from birth in the town of Navasota, Texas, to his passing. He was survived by his four siblings and predeceased by his parents, Charles J. and Mildred P. Boring. Charlie and my mother were brother and sister. James’s mother, Mildred, and my mother were good friends in addition to being sisters-in-law.

Our grandmother Bernice Louise Schlinke Boring with James and his two older sisters, Nancy and Charlotte, in August, 1956

Thanksgiving, 2025, James (second from left)

Sisters Charlotte and Nancy, brothers Martin and Dennis, niece Alison

James and his family formed an important part of my childhood in Richards, twenty miles from their home in Navasota. We celebrated holidays together as extended families did in those mid-twentieth century years. Gradually, as we left the teenage years, we saw less and less of each other’s aunts, uncles, and cousins. The passing of our grandmother in 1972 removed the cornerstone that had kept us together as families. Marriages, new births, college educations, careers became the focus for us. Sadly, I lost touch with my family when I chose to leave Texas and relocate a thousand miles away from home.

I had a second chance with James and his brothers when my mother was very ill with dementia from 2010 until her death in 2012. James, Martin, and Dennis still lived in Navasota; Pretty and I bought a home near them in Montgomery from 2010-2014. Our lives had become more complicated as adults, of course, but remembering good times as children made the laughs easy to come by when James and I were making plum jelly in our kitchen on Worsham Street, the music from his guitar sweeter than the homemade plum jelly when he played on our front porch in the summertime, and the domino games the most competitive ever in the cold Texas winters.

Rest in peace, James. I will miss you.

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On January 02, 2026, Reginald Lynn Boring died at his home in Cordova, Tennessee, at the age of 82. Like his second cousin James Paul, he was the oldest son of five children with two sisters and two brothers.

Reggie, standing, top right

survived by sisters Nita (standing) and Diane,

brothers Wayne and Howie (not pictured)

predeceased by father C.H. Boring and mother Gertrude Dostal

Visits with Reggie and his family were sporadic when we were growing up since the distance from Grimes County to Ft. Bend County where they lived wasn’t an easy drive in the 1950s, but we had fun whenever we got together. I loved my Rosenberg cousins.

Our visits as adults were even more sporadic because neither Reggie nor Nita nor I stayed inside the Texas borders at the same time as we got older. In 2008, however, Nita, Reggie and I reconnected to plan a Boring family reunion in Austin. My, oh my, what fun did we have! Time hadn’t stood still, but it definitely froze that day while we rediscovered our roots.

Reggie regaled us with stories – he even made Sonny smile!

(note name tags we all had to wear since we didn’t look quite the same as we had when we were children plus a few new ones)

Reggie Boring

(May 04, 1943 – January 02, 2026)

Rest in peace, Reggie. I will miss you.

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Mildred (Charlie’s wife), C.H. Boring, and Charlie Boring

Boring first cousins at my mom’s house circa 1976

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Requiem

Robert Louis Stevenson

1850 – 1894

Under the wide and starry sky,
    Dig the grave and let me lie.
Glad did I live and gladly die,
    And I laid me down with a will.

This be the verse you grave for me:
    Here he lies where he longed to be;
Home is the sailor, home from sea,
    And the hunter home from the hill.